The pancreas produces insulin to regulate blood sugars and digestive enzymes to break down food in the bowel. affects insulin production, leading to increased sugar levels and diabetes. Indications of cancer include dark urine, light-colored bowel movements and jaundice.
Risk Factors
Pancreatic cancer typically occurs in elderly individuals between the ages of 60 and 80. Smokers are twice as likely to get the disease, and those with chronic pancreatitis or diabetes also show increased risk.
Signs and Symptoms
Early pancreatic cancer often causes no symptoms and is called a "silent disease." Later signs and symptoms may include pain in the upper back or abdomen, yellowing of the skin and eyes, weakness, nausea and vomiting, blood clots, and appetite and weight loss.
Types
More than 90 percent of pancreatic cancers are exocrine cancers, which include ductal adenocarcinomas (affecting the ducts secreting pancreatic enzymes). Endocrine cancers affect the (islet) cells that manufacture insulin.
Treatment
Treatment in the early stages includes surgery (using the Whipple procedure if the tumor is isolated toward the head of the pancreas, or pancreatectomy), radiation therapy or chemotherapy. Palliative therapy is used in advanced stages to relieve symptoms.
Diagnosis
Computed tomography (CT) scans, ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatogram (ERCP) procedures are used to diagnose pancreatic cancers. A blood test that checks for Ca19-9, a substance shed by cancer cells, may be used to track progress of the cancer.
Famous Ties
Actors Michael Landon and Patrick Swayze and opera singer Luciano Pavarotti have had the disease.
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